In The Bitter Fruits of Wakefulness by Joel Lovell, he uses his audio essay to depict his insomniac experience as a 11 year old kid (34:32).  The techniques he uses are simply his voice and the vivid memories of his childhood with a little music in the background.  He doesn’t need any special effects. He does not use many of these techniques that are prevalent in the old style of the audio essay. He simply tells what may same like nightmares to an 11 year old boy.  He uses many examples to depict the trauma that kept him from sleeping as a kid. One that stands out is when he hears his father fight with his brother (36:32).   At that time he was too young to know what was happening with his brother, who was not, yet, diagnosed  with Schizophrenia. He paints a clear picture simply by telling his story. The voice is the number one tool the audio essayist needs to make his story come to life. Jeff Porter states in Essay of the Radio Essay, “Radio essays deal with the uniqueness of sounds, and that uniqueness is grounded in the human voice” (193).  Every voice has its own personality and is a reflection of the person who is speaking.  Lovell’s radio essay feels as if you are talking with an old friend that you can relate to, especially if you’ve ever suffered from insomnia, which I have.  The production assistant, Keith,  from  Ira Glass’s, This American Life,  uses a different  technique.  He uses audio from the movie The Shining in addition to his voice, to tell his story. He also uses interviews with others to help complete the picture.  For example, the vision of the two little girls in the movie is one that is clearly locked in my head from youth. So when he talks about them and plays the part of the movie when the little girls say, “Come play with us Danny,”it is as clear as if I was watching the movie right then and there (48:54).  He was only six at the time, and it is easy for anyone who has seen the movie to understand how it could keep him up at night.  This is the most important part of being an audio essayist, to be able to put clear images into the listener’s head.  Keith also keeps it interesting with bits of humor, like when he interviews his mom (48:40).  His mom thought the little girl(s) were friends of Danny’s.  He shows the humor in what was a traumatizing incident in his childhood. Keeping people tuned in is the job of a radio essayist, which they both do.